CANAAN, NH — Frances D. Hutchins, 81, passed away Monday September 9, 2019. She was born in Methuen, MA to the late Hugh & Katherine (O’Connor) Duffy. She graduated from St. Mary’s High School, class of 1955, and married Charles K. Hutchins in 1958. Together they raised their family in North Andover, MA. They recently celebrated their sixty-first wedding anniversary.
While raising their four children, Fran also worked at Merrimack College and then Essex Orthopedics. On the weekends, she and Chuck went hiking in the White Mountains with family and friends, eventually summiting all the New Hampshire four thousand footers.
When they retired, she and Chuck first moved to Biddeford, ME where she fulfilled her dream of living near the ocean. There they joined a Volksporting walking club. Fran and her husband Chuck, along with the rest of the “Walk and Eat Gang,” participated in one thousand walking events. These 10K walks were dispersed across all fifty states, and Fran relished visiting every one. Later, they moved to Candia NH where she gardened, and volunteered at the public library and food pantry. Fran moved to Canaan NH five years ago where she once again enjoyed living near the water.
Fran dearly loved her family and never missed an opportunity to spend time with them.
She is survived by her loving husband, Charles Hutchins; their four children and their spouses: Gayle Tudisco and her husband Joseph; Charles F. Hutchins and his wife Patricia; Christopher Hutchins and his wife Doreen; Patricia Steele and her husband Scott; their nine grandchildren Shelley, Sarah, Katherine, Abigail, Eric, Samantha, Cameron, Matthew and Colin; their six great grandchildren: Jacoby, Caleb, Sage, Oliver, Emma and Sawyer; her sister and brother-in-law Theresa and Daniel Conlon; her sister-in-law Anne Duffy, widow of her brother James Duffy; several nieces and nephews.
Family and friends are invited to Frances’s memorial calling hours at the Ricker Funeral Home in Lebanon on Friday September 13th from 6 to 8 PM with a prayer service/eulogy at 7:30 pm. Guests are welcomed to share their memories of Fran at that time. Her memorial mass will be held at St. Helena Catholic Church in Enfield on Saturday September 14th at 4 PM.
In lieu of flowers please donate to Fran’s favorite charity: St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105, or online at stjude.org.
An online guestbook is available to leave a message of condolence by visiting www.rickerfuneralhome.com.